Sprint Requiring Wi-Fi On All Future Smartphones

My, how the tables have turned. The bickering from mobile carriers over
the inclusion of Wi-Fi on higher-end devices is still fresh in our
minds, as just a few years back many companies viewed it as a rival to
3G, and thus, a rival to mobile data revenues. Today, however, things
have shifted dramatically. It's not really the data network that's
profitable any more, but the applications and such downloaded for one's
phone.

Of course, it matters not what kind of data network is used when an app
is purchased, it only matters that the app is purchased and some of
that revenue goes the carrier. In the case of Apple's App Store, none
of the revenue from application sales goes to AT&T, which gives it
even more reason to wish for users to use Wi-Fi overly the costly 3G.
This week, Sprint announced that it would be demanding cellphone
partners to include Wi-Fi on all Sprint-branded smartphones going
forward, which means that an all new version of RIM's BlackBerry Tour
must be created to suit Sprint.

The Tour, which is RIM's newest BlackBerry, is just about ready to hit
Verizon Wireless and AT&T airwaves, but it lacks Wi-Fi in its
current form. Sprint has announced intentions to carry the same phone
next year, but with Wi-Fi included. For the most part, mobile operators
now want users to tap into Wi-Fi as much as possible in order to reduce
the strain on their 3G networks. The demand for mobile data has
skyrocketed in just the past couple of years, giving these companies
more reason to get people off of them when possible. Of course, with
Sprint rolling out the nation's first true 4G network, we suspect it's
just a matter of time before it requires all incoming smartphones to
support WiMAX. Now that'll be the day!